Donor Spotlight: The Boeing Company – Inspiring STEM

Jessica Carbajal

As the wise proverb reminds us, alone one goes fast, but together we go far. For over a decade, The Boeing Company and TGR Foundation have worked together to drive positive and lasting change through high-quality STEM education programs in underserved communities.

Truly an integrated partner, The Boeing Company has been a key investor in our pilot STEM programs at our TGR Learning Lab, supporting educator professional-development workshops and providing executive leadership to guide the foundation’s expansion efforts.

“The Boeing Company is keenly aware of the need for building a pipeline to the workforce of tomorrow,” said Dr. Katherine Bihr, Vice President of Programs and Education at TGR Foundation. “Their philanthropic efforts have helped TGR Foundation develop countless resources for students and educators to help prepare them for their future. From providing mentors for our scholars to developing hands-on workshops for students, to serving as content experts for careers in the aerospace industry and beyond – Boeing is one of our most valued partners.”

We give our deepest thanks to Boeing and reflect on our collaboration at a pivotal time when TGR Foundation is pursuing the goal of impacting millions of youth worldwide. We would not be prepared for this growth without partnerships like theirs.

In 2003, Boeing participated in a community forum where Tiger Woods shared his vision to build a campus for kids – a place for students to come after school, feel safe and participate in educational classes. After the forum, The Boeing Company committed a very generous gift to this conceptual educational campus, that served as a catalyst to engage other members of the Orange County, California community and ultimately raise the capital to build the first TGR Learning Lab in Anaheim. To date, there are seven TGR Learning Labs around the country in five geographic markets.

“It is important to find partnerships that not only align with our company’s strategy, but ones that are constantly growing. TGR Foundation is doing just that, while inspiring a new generation of leaders,” said Corky Townsend, Vice President of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Customer Support.

By 2008, the TGR Learning Lab in Anaheim expanded programs beyond students and started providing STEM training to local educators. A program concept was developed, community partners were engaged and once again Boeing joined the foundation to launch the pilot project, now known as TGR EDU: Create. With continued support from Boeing, TGR EDU: Create has trained more than 3,000 Southern California educators on best practices in STEM to improve the quality of education in their classrooms.

While the TGR Learning Lab created, piloted and launched STEM training for local educators, in 2011 the foundation had the unique opportunity to develop a special STEM program to serve students from military families. The initiative, one close to Tiger as his own father, Earl Woods, served in the military, tasked the foundation with creating a new summer camp program just for this special audience.

Again, the employees of Boeing, through the Employees Community Fund of Boeing, CA, made an angel investment in the program and underwrote the camp that year and several years to follow. Through the program, hundreds of students from military backgrounds from around the country were given the chance to come to California and participate in engaging, hands-on, STEM programs at the TGR Learning Lab.

For 12 years, TGR Foundation had the pleasure of having Boeing’s former Vice President of Test and Evaluation, Rick Baily, serve as a Board of Governors. Rick dedicated many hours as a Governor, guiding the strategic expansion of all TGR Foundation programs including the Learning Labs, Earl Woods Scholar Program, TGR EDU: Create and most recently our online initiative, TGR EDU: Digital.

TGR Foundation is deeply grateful and honored to have The Boeing Company as a partner in our mission. Together, we are inspiring students to become future STEM innovators and ensuring tomorrow’s leaders are equipped to handle our evolving world and find their place within the 21stcentury job market.